Xi Yujin tapped his optical computer to see what kind of websites existed on the starship belt's Black Box Network. To his surprise, the network was completely empty, there were no links or redirects at all, only a single notice:

"Intelligent Machine Black Boxes are not supported in this region. Thank you for your understanding."

It was Xi Yujin's first time encountering something like this. He assumed Black Boxes were already universally widespread throughout the universe.

Either this starship belt deeply hated the Intelligent Machines, or this place possessed extremely advanced technology, or perhaps both.

Xi Yujin considered whether they should avoid this civilization entirely. However, the Black Box notice bore a "Peace" marker. Once a stellar port carried that symbol, it meant the star system was free from civil conflict or invasion wars, and travelers were welcome to come and go freely.

Being overly cautious had never been Xi Yujin's style. At worst, they'd just have to flee for their lives again.

So he sent a docking request and steered Tidal Peace toward the starship belt.

The two of them squeezed together inside the cockpit, watching the increasingly bizarre celestial environment ahead.

"Three thousand wormholes, that's the standard wartime transport scale," Gano said as he lowered the telescope. "The Queen would send vast numbers of warriors, so stable wormholes were necessary."

"The wormholes we've been traveling through… were they all dug out by the Zerg?" Xi Yujin asked.

"Only a small portion were originally created by the Zerg. Most naturally occurring wormholes are unstable but Zerg technology could stabilize them. During the war, each route would be named after a Queen, along with its construction serial number."

For example, the wormhole used by the massive passenger vessel Xi Yujin first boarded had been called "Sulya."

The reason that conflict had been named the Hyperspace War was because the Intelligent Machines crossed time, while the Zerg crossed space.

The countless wormholes made the universe more interconnected. Even weak civilizations could encounter advanced species, and the technological levels of all civilizations exploded during the war, gradually evening out.

That was why the civilizations Xi Yujin encountered along the way did not differ dramatically in technology level, yet their cultural development varied as widely as heaven and earth.

Only when Tidal Peace drew closer did the full appearance of the starship belt become visible.

It resembled countless barnacles tightly fused together, drifting through space. Most were bronze-colored, while a few were reddish-brown. There was no metallic sheen whatsoever; instead, they looked like the gigantic skeletons of some primitive lifeform.

The starship belt wound through the cosmos like a serpent, with no visible end. Farther away, countless stars glittered in the darkness.

There were actually large numbers of suns here.

"Those are the remains of Zerg war bases. The records never indicated if they had been preserved," Gano said, confusion visible on his face as well.

Following the docking instructions, Tidal Peace approached one of the "barnacles." A gap slowly opened in its surface, revealing what looked like rows of enormous ribs inside. Gano explained that this was typical Zerg architectural style.

Tidal Peace felt like a tiny shrimp being swallowed whole by a giant whale.

The ship's lights revealed no signs of life until a faint light source ignited overhead. Gentle illumination spread from all directions, unveiling an enormous docking bay before them.

Xi Yujin noticed that much of the interior decoration used steel-based industrial technology, completely clashing with the organic biotech aesthetics outside. It had an oddly patched-together feeling.

At the far end of the docking bay, a small door opened, and a humanoid lifeform stepped out.

"He… she… it looks very human," Xi Yujin muttered uncertainly while trying to choose the right pronoun.

The creature truly did resemble a human. It wore a round glass helmet and a spacesuit-like outfit covering its entire body, with no hair visible. It stood atop a floating disc-shaped device, gazing eagerly toward Tidal Peace with obvious enthusiasm.

The being made the universal gesture indicating prohibition of violence, then requested communication.

"Greetings, honored guests from Blue Planet. I have received your travel signal," it said energetically. "Would you like to experience the scenery of our starship belt? I'd be delighted to serve as your guide. Please call me Aila!"

Xi Yujin secretly thought to himself: A tour guide appearing the moment you arrive while traveling… is this some kind of forced-consumption tourist trap?

A passageway extended from midair to beneath Tidal Peace, lined with spacesuits of various sizes. Xi Yujin helped the five little Rust Clan members into theirs, and for the sake of concealment, both he and Gano also put on spacesuits before disembarking together.

The gravity inside the starship had been set rather low, making every step feel like hopping kangaroos. Xi Yujin naturally took Gano's hand as they approached Aila.

The creature was far taller than an ordinary person, and up close, its skin appeared exceptionally smooth.

Aila enthusiastically hugged all of them, including the little Rust Clan members.

"Welcome!"

"I haven't encountered tour guide service this enthusiastic in other star systems," Xi Yujin admitted honestly. "Does the starship belt have a lot of mandatory regulations?" That was the only explanation he could think of.

Aila activated the floating disc and led them deeper into the ship.

"I can guess what you're wondering, so I should answer two things first.

First, our starship belt has no commercial system. I'm serving as your guide entirely out of personal interest. I don't charge fees, but I've already received my reward, so please follow without worry.

Here, every lifeform is free to develop their own hobbies. I assume you enjoy traveling. Wouldn't having an encyclopedia-like guide be wonderful? Or perhaps you prefer something quieter? I can remain completely silent too.

Second, the starship belt does indeed have many rules. That's because of our unique geographic position and our extremely small population. We must proceed carefully."

They entered the interior of the starship.

The lighting was warm and abundant, naturally putting people at ease.

The first room they entered was filled with lush greenery. Massive leaves stretched all the way to the ceiling, and a gigantic corpse flower exposed its pitch-black center, radiating vigorous primordial vitality.

A gardener emerged from the dense foliage and greeted them warmly.

"This is a park. They're very common aboard our ships," Aila explained. "We can't guarantee that all the plants inside are completely harmless, so please don't damage anything."

"These plants have a longer history aboard the ship than we do," the gardener said cheerfully. "I fell in love with them the moment I first saw them, and now I've finally become a gardener."

"Oh, if you're oxygen-breathing lifeforms, you may breathe normally here in moderation," Aila added, pointing toward the ceiling. "There are numerous filters and atmospheric generators throughout the ship, so oxygen-based species can move around freely."

Beyond the park stretched a long corridor.

Almost every surface had been overlaid with steel materials, completely concealing the Zerg organic architectural style beneath. Both sides of the passage offered views into outer space, and every branching path was marked with signposts.

"This is the dining hall."

They entered a large hall similar to a Blue Planet cafeteria. A lifeform in a different style of spacesuit stepped out and waved a cooking spatula at them.

"Hearing other species praise my cooking is my greatest joy! You absolutely have to try it later!"

Aila explained, "The food here is also completely free of charge. If you feel hungry, please enjoy yourselves as much as you like. Our chef maintains an enormous ingredient archive. But please avoid wasting food."

Xi Yujin said, "I'm looking forward to that. Do you happen to sell edible minerals here?"

Aila and the chef answered in unison, "Of course!"

"This is the logistics conveyor system."

They saw two rail tracks running along one side of the corridor. A humanoid lifeform sat atop stacks of packages stamping delivery labels while cargo carts sped rapidly along the tracks.

Aila explained, "If you need to transport large materials, the logistics conveyor system is your best option. Our logistics navigators will deliver items precisely to their destinations. This service is also free."

Xi Yujin observed for a while before commenting, "You all seem genuinely happy, even doing jobs that machines would objectively perform better."

"Machines certainly can handle many tasks," Aila replied. "But this particular member of our species enjoys repetitive manual labor. So the machines were dismissed, and living beings took over."

There was both pride and a trace of contempt in Aila's voice.

"The will of living beings stands above all else. Machines will never rule us."

The next destination was a museum. A staff member emerged to receive them and apologized that, due to force majeure circumstances, the museum was closed for the day.

Aila shrugged, "Sometimes work is joyful, but unpleasant things like this happen too."

After passing through another corridor, they arrived at a panoramic observatory.

Several starship residents stood scattered inside in small groups. This was already the highest population density Xi Yujin had seen so far aboard the station. None of them had hair, and Xi Yujin found them temporarily difficult to distinguish from one another.

"This is the Planetary Art Exhibition Hall. I hope you remember, we are the Free Capital of Art."

Aila's pride practically overflowed from inside the glass helmet.

It casually touched one of the display panels. In an instant, countless glowing particles floated upward, gradually shifting into different colors. Clearly defined planetary orbits circled around Xi Yujin and the others while virtual planets spun slowly in space, each accompanied by a labeled nameplate.

A string of characters flashed by "Starship Belt Planetary Art Exhibition."

Xi Yujin obligingly let out an impressed "Wow," while Gano stood beside him completely unmoved internally.

Aila explained, "Our starship belt is a place where every lifeform may freely develop itself. We are born in space and therefore free from the restraints of gravity. We will also never live on planets. Different environments influence how beings think about their interests. Those who live on icy worlds may naturally enjoy building snowmen, while those in deserts may become obsessed with water.

We must free ourselves from environmental limitations and place every possible choice equally before ourselves, then choose our future based solely on natural interest.

Now that technology has advanced so rapidly, aside from residents like us who enjoy manual labor, most of the starship residents devote themselves to art.

And our art is far beyond mere text. It is unparalleled, high-level literary derivative creation!"

Xi Yujin applauded at exactly the right moment. Aila grinned so hard its eyes nearly disappeared and even looked a little shy. Beside him, Gano expressionlessly flicked away a virtual planet drifting toward him.

"That honestly sounds very cool," Xi Yujin praised.

In this universe, "high-level literary derivatives" referred to things like comics, films, games, and similar media. Every star system possessed its own unique derivative culture.

However, transmitting images and videos between star systems was far more difficult than transmitting plain text, and there was a high risk of corrupted or incomplete data during transfer. Because of the limitations of signal transmission speeds, these derivative works mostly circulated only within their home systems.

If one wanted other species to appreciate such works, one also had to account for the audience's sensory spectrum. Many alien lifeforms were color-blind or visually impaired, while some lacked eyes entirely. As a result, few beings purchased advanced derivative media.

Interactive derivatives such as games faced even greater limitations. Server infrastructure alone was a nightmare. Even with the powerful functionality of Black Boxes, real-time interstellar connectivity remained difficult. Merchants dealing in advanced derivative works either stayed within a single star system or distributed them similarly to physical books: offline downloads for solo enjoyment. Prices naturally skyrocketed, and their audiences remained far smaller than those of novels.

Only text, pure simple text, was truly suited for spreading across the universe.

Xi Yujin tried few alien games aboard the ship and found them pretty entertaining. Their stories overflowed with imagination, though the music was somewhat grating. Yet alien audiences considered them utterly average, full of overused clichés found everywhere, with only the music barely qualifying as decent.

Alien games truly were a matter of wildly differing tastes.

Meanwhile, Aila continued enthusiastically: "We do not live on planets, but we create art for planets. Every time we pass by a planet, artists use it as the basis for creating a high-level derivative work.

After our starship belt departs, our exhibition hall permanently preserves that one-of-a-kind creation. At the same time, the artwork itself is sealed and preserved on the planet in a special form. By now, we possess over six million artworks…"

It disabled the star-map particle effects and continued: "This is only one small branch venue of the Planetary Art Exhibition. Our starship belt is so enormous that walking from one end to the other would probably wear your legs out completely. Let's go collect transportation discs! That way, it'll be easier to enjoy the scenery of the starship belt!"

Aila truly was a tour guide who loved its work. It helped Xi Yujin and the others obtain floating transport discs before leading them through the endless corridors while the stars outside flashed by in fleeting streaks.

Aila introduced the various facilities throughout the starship belt: food, clothing, housing, transportation, and others. Everything necessary for life was available.

However, one cleaner clearly looked at Xi Yujin's group with obvious displeasure.

Its name was Tula.

Tula snorted coldly and remarked pointedly: "Our starship belt was originally entirely self-sufficient. We never needed outside species participating in our art."

Aila looked embarrassed and hurriedly tried to stop it.

Tula rode away on its transport disc, tossing one final sentence behind it: "That museum curator must be blind. I seriously don't understand why they insist on holding this Planetary Art Exhibition."

Aila returned apologetically to Xi Yujin's side.

Xi Yujin didn't mind at all and instead changed the subject:

"What do you mean by outside species participating in the art exhibition?"

At that, Aila became energetic again.

"For the very first time, our Planetary Art Exhibition will allow participation from external lifeforms! Interested artists may select planets marked by the starship belt and create derivative works based on them…"

It paused dramatically.

"And if the work is excellent enough, that planet will be gifted entirely to the artist."

What?

They were giving away planets?!

Xi Yujin's stellar instincts exploded on the spot.

There was absolutely no way he was missing this opportunity.